The Best iOS Photo Editing App

The young Lord Instagram, mighty adopted son of the great Lord Facebook, rules over the mobile lives of a global kingdom. We take photos of everything. We take photos of our meals, our new outfits, our cars, our meals, nature, our meals, skylines… you name it, it is living somewhere on the land of Instagram. And like in any reality based realm, we like to look our best. On the mobile app, that means photo editing. While Instagram is technically a photo editing app (where the endgame is to share your finished product), there are a slew of others that have come to market in recent years for those of us that want more than a Sutro or Earlybird filter. Some of these apps are free, some aren’t. The price isn’t necessarily indicative of an app’s awesomeness. Of the top thirty apps buzzing the scene today, we chose Camera+ as our favorite photo editing app for amateurs and pros alike that are employing Apple.

Priced at a reasonable $1.99, Camera+ is an all-Instagramers favorite. “Whether you’re a seasoned photographer or someone who’s barely touched a camera, Camera+ will make you love taking photos…” That is, without a doubt, a heavy handed way to hype yourself up. I’ll disagree with the wording “make you love taking photos.” I don’t feel imposed on or ruled over (okay, okay, the metaphor ends here); I feel invited. Camera+ is user-friendly. The interface feels natural to interact with. For instance, the Touch Exposure and Focus features hardly need pointing out. If you’re second nature is to touch the photo first—which for any Instagram user that is the case—then you’ll find that you can set exposure separately from focus. The Grid, Flashlight for brightening, and Digital Zoom are all familiar enough to those of us interested in tweaking our shots. It is the Shooting Modes, and that aforementioned Touch Exposure and Focus feature, that set this app apart from the masses. Shooting Modes gets your phone as close to a traditional camera as possible. Set the Stabilizer to steady your phone for the crispest shot imaginable; set the Timer the way you would to shoot a family portrait; set Burst for quick-fire streamlets of pics that work great in any active / sports scenario. Camera+ turns any iPhone into the original Olympus family outing camera, 21st century edition.

Rachel loves hats— Fedoras, ten-gallons, those crazy ones that fancy British ladies wear. Not only does she love hats, she also wears many of them. After graduating from Penn State, Rachel has been an ESL teacher, a barista, a proofreader, a barista, a copy editor, and probably a barista a couple more times.
Rachel now lives in Chicago with her three roommates: a rescue dog Nemo, her fiancé, and a flatscreen that’s always playing Scandal.
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